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Baseball
7
Southern U. SOUTHERN
12
Winner Florida A&M FLORIDA
Southern U. SOUTHERN
7
Final
12
Florida A&M FLORIDA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Southern U. SOUTHERN 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 7 12 1
Florida A&M FLORIDA 0 1 2 1 0 4 2 2 X 12 15 2

W: Granger, Caleb (3-1) L: Bobby Spencer (1-2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Rattlers open SWAC play with win over Southern

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  — Caleb Granger struck out 10 in six innings and Jackson McKenzie went 3 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs as Florida A&M pulled away for a 12–7 victory over Southern University on Friday.

Granger (3-1) allowed four runs on eight hits but needed only 70 pitches to work through six frames, keeping Southern's lineup off-balance throughout. McKenzie added three scoreless innings in relief, allowing two earned runs while going 3 for 4 at the plate in a dual role.

The Rattlers scored in six of eight innings, including a decisive four-run sixth that turned a 4–4 tie into an 8–4 advantage. Matthew Perez opened the inning with an RBI single, Justen Crews followed with a run-scoring hit and Caden Kresak came home on a sacrifice fly by Alex Monile. Jackson McKenzie then drew a bases-loaded walk to cap the rally.

Florida A&M added two more in the seventh — both unearned, aided by a left-field error by Southern's Kennedy Drexler — and two in the eighth on a McKenzie triple and an Ethan Miller RBI single.
Kresak, who homered in the fourth to tie the game at four, finished 3 for 5 with three runs scored, a homer and one RBI. Perez went 2 for 4 with two runs and two RBIs out of the nine hole.

Bobby Spencer (1-2) took the loss for Southern, allowing eight runs — all earned — on eight hits over 5? innings. He hit three batters and walked one. Reliever Myles Dismute allowed seven hits and four earned runs over 2? innings of relief.

Southern rallied for three runs in the ninth on a Ryan Hunter two-RBI single and an unearned run scored by Jacoby Radcliffe, but the deficit proved insurmountable. Radcliffe finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs.
 
Inside the box score

PITCHING
  • Granger needed just 70 pitches for six innings — an average of fewer than 12 pitches per frame — while posting 10 strikeouts against only one walk.
  • FAMU pitchers combined to strike out 13 of 37 Southern batters (35.1%) while allowing only two free passes all game.
  • Spencer hit three batters in 5? innings, contributing to his own unraveling — each HBP extended innings that Southern's defense couldn't get out of.
  • McKenzie's balk in the ninth directly led to an unearned run — a rare blemish on an otherwise effective relief outing of three innings, three strikeouts.
HITTING
  • Florida A&M out-hit Southern 15–12 and drew four walks to Southern's two, generating more baserunners in nearly every inning they batted.
  • Kresak, McKenzie and Perez combined to go 8 for 13 with six runs scored, six RBIs and three extra-base hits — accounting for more than half of FAMU's offensive production.
  • Ethan Miller was hit by a pitch twice and reached on a catcher's interference — meaning he never made an out in four plate appearances yet drove in a run and scored once.
  • Radcliffe's triple in the second gave Southern an early lead, and his 2-for-3 line with three RBIs was the lone consistent bright spot for the Jaguars' offense.
  • Southern's Kameron Byrd went 0 for 5 with a strikeout — the only Jaguar starter who failed to reach base all game.
DEFENSE & BASERUNNING
  • Southern's two errors directly contributed to two unearned runs in the seventh inning, turning a manageable deficit into a rout.
  • FAMU stole two bases without being caught; Southern was caught stealing once and picked off once — a net negative on the basepaths.
  • Miller's passed ball and catcher's interference added to Southern's defensive miscues, keeping FAMU rallies alive in multiple innings.
 
 
 
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